Dio
Killing The Dragon

THE REVIEW

Two years after "Magica" (an album clearly inspired by the seventies era of Rainbow), the release of "Killing The Dragon" was announced. It was intended by its creator as the album that would revive the stylistic approach to hard-hitting rock. A sort of hard'n'heavy revival in "Holy Diver" style.

Some time ago, I read an interview with the singer in which he explained that he was a terrible guitarist, admitting his compositional dependency on those he collaborated with from time to time. This explains the uncertainties and flatness of "Killing The Dragon". With Craig Goldie out (although this album still bears his signature on some tracks), Doug Aldrich was recruited, an axe-man as virtuous as he is artistically outdated and surpassed (and to think he was introduced by Ronnie as the stylistic heir to Viv Campbell... well...). Let's add that Simon Wright has now permanently replaced behind the drums the imposing Vinny Appice, and in some pieces, perhaps due to his past with AC/DC, he contributes not a little to flattening the rhythm section (especially in the more intense tracks).

Specialist magazines wrote "an album for the fans". Food for chickens, we would translate. It pains me to say it, because Ronnie Dio has contributed to the history of a genre, but the facts are that these are now elderly people who have lived off music all their lives and wish to continue doing so even now. Hence, this anxious choice of a return to the past. Today, indeed, there are many historical bands in metal and hard rock that, for a handful of extra dollars, have taken the path of recycling their famous past endlessly.

However, even leaving aside the discussions of artistic purity, the point is that this album does not resonate either at the first or the hundredth listen. Yes, the title track is catchy, there are some other appreciable hints here and there, like the "main riffs" of "Scream" and "Push", but apart from that, the rest does not hold up at all to the masterpieces of the first half of the eighties (nor even to the more experimental ones of the following decade). Just to mention some episodes: "Rock'n'Roll" is at times a case of legal plagiarism, "Better In The Dark" also sounds overused and already heard. Finally, in the series "cabbages at teatime", there is "Throw Away The Children" that wants to be an inspired piece. The track actually suffers from the presence of Aldrich, who ruins the atmospheres with that damn polished sound reminiscent of eighties glamsters (at least they could have updated the sounds). And on and on, more or less like this throughout the album, between a copied riff, a demanding solo to no purpose, and so many ideas as old as the hills.

It's sad to say, the dragon may not be dead yet, but it certainly doesn't roar anymore. An album born out of the nostalgia market.